


the light is you

by wetbreadstick



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Blowjobs, First Kiss, First Time, Grinding, M/M, No Spoilers, Post-Support Conversations, some cosmic spell nonsense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-20
Updated: 2016-04-05
Packaged: 2018-05-27 20:03:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6298348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wetbreadstick/pseuds/wetbreadstick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"To me, it matters not what path led me here," Leo murmurs, and Takumi can feel the shape of his mouth against his skin. "Only that I found my way to you."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. solar eclipse

**Author's Note:**

> _when it's dark_   
>  _i can see the light shining through you_

When the spring trees start to bud, they meet as friends for the first time.

The sun is warm where it dusts over Takumi's skin. It's a sensation partly-forgotten, swept away by the winter months, and his body welcomes it like an old friend. The courtyard laid in front of him is familiar in how the shadows of budding trees slant over well-tended rock gardens, the gold of early afternoon resting in patterns around them-- the slats of sunlight spell out rebirth, the slow inhale of the world coming back to life.

"Sorry to interrupt," A voice asks from just behind him, the only sound apart from distant rustling branches. "May I join you?"

Leo's footsteps are slow, respectful, borrowed sandals tapping over the polished wood of the deck. (He'd shed his armor long ago; _it's no longer needed,_ he'd said, body newly vulnerable under fabric Hoshido had made for him. _There are no battles here._ ) Takumi's head tilts towards him, gaze shifting from the expanse of land before him and over to Leo. He's relaxed, hair loose and shifting flaxen over his cheeks marked soft by the sun. A heartbeat passes-- in silence, Takumi thinks Leo looks better in Hoshidan sunlight than he ever could in Nohrian dusk.

"A coin for your thoughts?" Leo says, amused, and Takumi blinks. Embarrassment scatters a brief pink at the tip of his ears before he's clearing his throat, hand caught between a dismissive gesture and a beckon.

"Of course you can." Takumi finally answers, chin dipping at a cushion laid neatly against the railing to the side. "I'm just enjoying the warm weather."

He watches as Leo nods, making his way to the cushion, moving it beside Takumi's with great care. (This side of him is new. Leo made a better friend than he ever had an enemy.) There's another comfortable silence as he settles himself, eyes falling on the courtyard as he kneels gracefully on the smooth pillow. Wind trails gentle between them, rippling the fabric of robes in its wake, sending Takumi's hair loose and tickling over his skin.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to this much sunlight," Leo remarks, eyes on the budding blooms of the trees, something curious curling at the corner of his mouth. "I've already burned in it-- Corrin finds it unspeakably funny, for whatever reason. Look."

Takumi blinks, looking to where Leo's rolling his loose sleeve up, revealing a pink-edging-on-red burn spread from his wrist up to his shoulder. It is funny, almost-- Leo's pale enough for any color to stand outlandish on his skin, and the red marks a glaring and evident lapse in attention. He catches his bottom lip in his teeth, willing himself not to laugh-- it wouldn't do to mock him, he reminds himself, quashing the amusement bubbling high in his throat. "Sakura gave me ointment for it," Leo continues, and Takumi lifts his eyes to meet his gaze. There's a smile there, sardonic at the edges, an eyebrow lofted at Takumi's poorly-hidden mirth. "But she seemed amused as well. Is making fun of misfortune a Hoshidan tradition?"

Takumi snorts, reaching out without thinking, fingers finding the reddened skin. It's hot under his touch, hotter than his own sun-warmed skin, and he lingers. His stomach twists when Leo huffs out an amused noise, arm stilling under his touch, tense but permissive. The sunlight pours over where they're close, and the pink that spreads over his own skin isn't something he can blame on its warmth.

"That's generally not something we make a habit of." Takumi finally manages, voice sticking in his dry throat, "but getting a sunburn is something so typical of a foreigner." He flashes a half-smile, all feigned pleasantness, withdrawing his hand when Leo utters a derisive noise. 

"I suppose that's fair." Leo says, wry, letting the sleeve roll back down his arm. Takumi watches his skin disappear under the fold of fabric once more. "I'm only thankful it wasn't worse." His gaze stays on Takumi for several moments-- Takumi feels himself heat under his gaze, insides squirming-- before it travels back out over the serene yards, lapsing into a thoughtful silence. 

Had anyone asked Takumi of his relationship with Leo not months ago, he'd never have responded with the word _friend_ in mind. Now, however, sitting with Leo in the sun, affection brews closer to his treacherous heart than he could ever have imagined. It's surreal, almost; he'd been used to verbal jabs, physical half-shoves only kept nonviolent by intervening siblings, watching Leo across a ravaged battlefield with his heart hammering furious in his throat-- but now, _now,_ their wall between dawn and dusk had melted into afternoon, new with promise and peace.

The Nohrians had visited Hoshido only sparingly at first. The resentment of war still lingered, after all, land and families still scarred from countless battles-- it was easy to look at the rulers of a country once bent on conquest with nothing but suspicion. But the sunlight, it seemed, lured them in as easy as a moth to flame. Though Xander was rarely seen, dutifully ruling as king in the heart of Nohr, the other royals soon became a common sight within Hoshido's walls.

 _Hate_ had once been a word too weak to describe Takumi's sentiments towards Leo. The first time he'd stumbled upon him in the halls of his own home, walking with Corrin like he belonged there, it'd been instinct to hurl a punch at the face of an enemy suddenly too close for comfort-- but Corrin, he recalls, is _strong_ and _angry_ and _bigger_ than he is, and also a dragon, and she'd made short work of him with a well-aimed elbow.

The two princes were too similar to not be drawn together, however. Fall bled into winter, extinguishing the sun and Takumi's resentment along with it-- the long nights did not allow for more coldness than the ice already provided. Soups and books were shared, grudgingly at first, over beds of embers and glowing stoves, stirring an unfamiliar hearth nestled deep and secret in Takumi's ribs. When the snow melted, he did as well, and Leo was no longer an enemy.

"All burns aside, I'm glad to be here." Leo slides a look over at Takumi, voice softer than it'd been, drawing his attention. His eyes strike rich and gleaming in the Hoshidan sunlight, and Takumi blinks, momentarily at a loss for words. Without his armor, without the voice so full of scorn he'd been used to, Leo is unknowable and thrilling and _dangerous_ in an entirely new way. "I suppose I made some good choices somewhere."

Takumi falls silent for a moment, untangling his eyes from Leo's gaze, the weight of those words bearing sudden and heavy on his shoulders. One wrong step along the way could've ended with any tragedy-- with one of them dead, with both of them dead, with family and country razed and burned to the ground. The peaceful scenery around them seems fragile, somehow, and his mouth pulls into a frown. Beside him, Leo is solid, breathing, and more real than the green life just beginning to blossom from the earth all around them.

He wants to reach out and touch him. He doesn't.

"Yes, well." Takumi begins, keeping heaviness out of his voice with some effort, "It would've been exhausting to be enemies forever, wouldn't it? You wouldn't have been able to keep up." The layers of snark are familiar, and he sinks back into the habit with lightheartedness. Beside him, he sees Leo relax, shoulders loosening and body unwinding muscle by muscle. Even so, he laughs in response, disbelieving.

"I hardly think that would've been the case." He answers, tone laced with a well-known scorn, "You never stood a chance against me, _reedy little bookworm_ or not."

Takumi utters a _ha!_ in response before they're both laughing, air open and clean, sound clear and unbarred between them. Leo's smile curves genuine, unfamiliar and nearly shocking in all its strength, and Takumi's breath catches in his throat. Leo's eyes are flecked with amber, sun taking root and spreading warmth through his skin, through his voice, through his words. He sits in clothing made of tradition, of home-- armorless, vulnerable and open where dark fabric parts to reveal glimpses of honeyed skin. Between the two of them, Takumi feels laid bare, raw and new and unfurling in the face of some great light.

 _No armor could ever protect me from this,_ Takumi thinks, and the world around them blooms and blooms and blooms.

* * *

 

"Staring at me isn't going to help you win," Leo says, voice unusually serious, and Takumi scowls. The board under their hands is checkered black against pale wood, unfamiliar pieces standing in stubborn battle formation. Leo had brought the game from Nohr-- _chess,_ like shogi, he remembers. Each piece is carved meticulously, smooth and shiny to the touch, uniquely shaped in the role they had to play. 

"The queen is the strongest piece," Takumi begins, pointedly ignoring Leo's comment. "But the king is the most important?" He pauses, watching Leo's hovering hands with a frustrated anticipation. "I think the queen should be regarded as the most important, instead."

The stalemate has them both on a visible edge, Leo's shoulders squared tight and Takumi's voice laced with a distracting irritation. Pawns litter the wood on the floor to either side, fallen soldiers of a locked battle of wits. Takumi knows strategy best of his family, he thinks-- wielding a bow called for precise calculation, all angles and technique and distance. Close combat was not an option, and precautions were a necessity. It's a similar situation for mages, Takumi thinks idly, before his brows crash into a frown when Leo moves a rook forward in a smooth motion.

"Check." Leo's voice is self-assured, smile smug and spreading over his face. Takumi curses.

There's another silence as Takumi pores over the board, possibilities flicking through his mind like fish through a stream-- Leo's queen stands proud across the board from Takumi's, gleaming a stolid, threatening white. The sun is just beginning to set outside, yellow-fading-orange peeking in through the wooden sliding door they'd left open. The air that wafts in is still warm, carrying the heady scent of bloomed flowers with it.

"There's more to victory than brute strength." Leo continues, chin resting in the palm of his hand as he regards Takumi, who ignores him once more. "In the end, even the most musclebound of brutes can be taken down with one hit."

Takumi slides his bishop two spaces and moves himself out of check. Leo frowns at the board.

"You're saying that like I don't already know it." Takumi scoffs, seemingly only finding his voice once the danger of losing had passed. "Archers employ individual strategy moreso than most on a battlefield..." he trails off after a moment, watching Leo's face with a sudden absent fascination. The red-pink of the sky outside paints his skin ethereal, robes dyed with the color of the light. He's biting his lip, teeth worrying at the pink of the skin, jaw firm and casting a sharp shadow-- his hands are deft, purposeful, intelligent where they hover over the remaining soldiers. The dying light changes Leo's eyes to amber once more, and Takumi falls in, in, mouth dry and heart hammering.

Leo moves his queen forward, knocking Takumi's last knight off the board.

"Check." he says softly, eyes flickering to him, and Takumi is unable to defend himself once more.

* * *

 

He finds Leo roaming through the cherry blossom trees at night, a silent shadow moving slow and thoughtful under the blooms. Takumi often finds himself restless during the late nights, and the moon is a companion he knows well-- he falls into step beside Leo without a word, grass washed white and silent under their feet.

"Are you an owl now?" Takumi asks him, dry, hands shifting to the pockets of his robe. "Nocturnal?" Leo offers nothing but a hum at first, eyes trained above them, where the stars peek brilliantly through the pink-petaled branches.

"The sun can be too much." he answers simply, finally turning his gaze on Takumi. His eyes are dark, night smoothing the brown to black, a calm and practiced serenity. "Sometimes it is the light that blinds you, rather than the dark." Neither him nor Takumi pause their journey, words sinking quiet in the cool spring night around them. There's no movement save for the fluttering petals in the occasional breeze. Like this, Takumi can pretend that they are the only two people in the world, surrounded by soft silence and new flowers.

"That's very deep." Takumi says, winding exaggerated solemnity into his voice. "I didn't know you were a poet, Prince Leo." The facade breaks when Leo elbows him, and he snickers, jostling his elbow back in retaliation. 

"There's no need for that attitude." Leo chastises, reaching to push at his shoulder with a palm. Takumi staggers half a pace to the side, affronted gaze whipping back to Leo's face just in time to catch the flicker of a smile. "I was just making an observation, Prince Takumi. A scientific truth, if you wi--" he's cut off by his own voice twisting into a gasp, stumbling as Takumi pushes him back, harder.

Leo's skin is warm even through the fabric of the robe draping graceful over the slope of his shoulders, hanging loose and free and somehow looking completely natural on him-- Takumi smirks, watching him gather himself, before his own breath leaves him in a rush as Leo fists a hand into his front and pushes him back, back against one of the sakura trees. The branches shake with the gentle force of it, showering them both with delicate pink petals, and Takumi swallows hard.

Leo's close. Even under the pale moonlight, Takumi can see the blonde curl of his eyelashes, hair cornsilk and smile fading to something open-mouthed. The darkness wraps around them like a blanket, suddenly, thick and choking and warm-- Takumi feels himself tense, hyperaware of Leo's hand palm-flat against his chest, warm and surely able to feel how his heartbeat ratchets up a few notches. It's hammering in his throat, Leo's breath dusting warm over his skin, shoulders tense against the trunk of the tree behind him. The smile fades from his face as well, and he remains frozen, searching Leo's eyes for something.

(How many times had he imagined this situation before, only with a spell instead of a palm, a sword instead of a tree, Leo's dark eyes swimming with triumphant hate rather than cautious realization? That could've happened just as easily as this, he thinks woozily, head clouding with something thick and choking in his throat.)

"Normally," Takumi says, voice cracking, "this would be the part where I call for the guards to come seize you." he swallows again, watching Leo's eyes, the brief hesitation that flickers over his face-- but he doesn't pull away, hand remaining warm and solid where it is, stance steady and slowly becoming more sure. Leo's mouth opens, then closes, then opens once more, and Takumi holds his breath.

"But you trust me." Leo says quietly, and it's somewhere between a statement and a question. He smells like jasmine and soap, and the world spins around Takumi. This is more dangerous than any face-off they could've ever had. "I made some right choices, somewhere." he puffs out an amused noise, and Takumi utters a dizzy laugh in response. 

"I didn't always." Takumi finally responds, and is ashamed of how his voice quivers. "But I do now." A heartbeat before he's reaching out with a cautious hand, hesitant, and his fingers find where the robe opens on Leo's chest-- his palm slides along the bare skin, up over the side of his throat, fingers curling at the back of his neck. His heart is going fast enough for Leo to hear, he's sure, almost delirious with the ache that rises sudden and fierce through his entire body. "You did find the right path, I guess."

Leo blinks, and the smile he offers then is tender enough to make Takumi shiver down to his core.

"I did." he repeats, dreamy, and leans in to kiss him.

Above them, the moon slides into place, and the Earth begins to turn once more. Leo's lips are soft and warm and Takumi is frozen, shock rooting him in place, hand still where it rests at the nape of Leo's neck. Something inside of him trembles. Melts. Some fierce ache, something that'd once screamed _unloved_ at him quiets, recedes in the face of Leo kissing him, firm, hand sliding to his waist.

He responds like a stopped clock whirring back into motion-- fists his hand into Leo's hair, pale and soft, head tilting and eyes closing and he has _no_ idea what he's doing but when Leo's mouth opens hot and slick against his he responds in kind, heat thrilling through every part of him. There's lingering strawberry on his lips, sticky where they kiss between little huffs of breath-- Leo's kisses trail to the corner of his lips, over his cheek, down to his jaw, and Takumi's hand clenches tight.

"To me, it matters not what path led me here," Leo murmurs, and Takumi can feel the shape of his mouth against his skin. "Only that I found my way to you."

Takumi swallows hard against something thick in his throat, and warmth blooms in his chest as sure as the world around them-- he pulls Leo back, back to his mouth, kissing him again half-desperate and dizzying and deep. Leo pushes closer, back up against the tree, nearly flush up against his front as he licks into his mouth-- Takumi's breath feels short in his chest, like he's not pulling in enough air, like Leo is all he can taste and feel.

He nearly chokes on what little breath he does have when Leo shifts a leg between his thighs, teeth nipping sharp and brief into his bottom lip. The heat on his skin sinks deeper, blinding through his muscles, coming to gather molten and thick in his abdomen-- his entire body feels sluggish, suddenly, sparks pricking along his skin when Leo rolls his hips up against him, exploratory.

"Prince Takumi," Leo says against his mouth, breathy, lips pink and soft from kissing, "can I touch you?"

Automatically, Takumi's hips jerk forward in response, and humiliation burns hot over his skin, fingers twitching in Leo's hair. The touches are unfamiliar, unknown until now, only ever imagined in his most secret fantasies-- but Leo is warm and his thigh is pushing delicious pressure sweet up against him, rocking in steady movements, kisses deep and slow enough to make his toes curl. He's already hard, evident in his virginity, and he silently thanks the gods that Leo hasn't said anything about it.

"I've never," Takumi bites out, a gasp between the sticky slide of lips and tongue, "done this before, but," A groan, bitten-off and deep in his throat, " _yes._ Yes, just-- don't call me _Prince._ " His breath stutters when Leo's hand slides down, over the dip of his back to grab Takumi by the back of the thigh and pull him closer, locking together like puzzle pieces, rocking their hips together and _oh,_ he's hard too. 

The night air feels too warm, muggy and humid between them, sticky as they gasp quietly against each other. "Just like this, then," Leo pants, hips dragging filthy friction where he grinds up against Takumi. The fabric pulls tight over him, rubbing damp and raw and tortuous over his cock-- Takumi's breath hiccups in his throat, feeling himself blurt sticky precome up inside his own pants. The world narrows down to just the two of them, then, how the kisses turn to nothing but hot breaths, moon bearing silent witness.

 _It's too fast,_  Takumi's brain says to him, urgent and foggy with pleasure, thoughts interrupted by how Leo slots against him, hard where they rub together, focused on Leo's fingers digging indents into his thigh-- it's wet and rough and sloppy, Leo pressing up hot against him, Leo gasping quiet against his mouth, Leo's hair brushing against his cheek, Leo, Leo.

 _Leo,_ his heart says, somewhere with the moon. _Leo,_ armorless, weaponless, one hand still pressed flat up over his chest. _Leo,_ his body says, pleasure winding high and tight and scalp prickling as his thighs start to shake. His head tilts back with a gasp when Leo grinds up against him again and he feels the blunt head of his cock rub up against his own, thick and unbearably hot and fabric damp-becoming-soaked and he groans, long and loud when Leo kisses down his jaw, sucking a bruise into skin sticky with sweat.

"Leo," Takumi says, voice trembling and hot and he can feel all of Leo, defenseless, separated only by thin layers of fabric, hands holding close and possessive. Leo's name is unfamiliar on his tongue this way, laden with heat and sex. "I'm going to--" he swallows hard, shaking, fingers clenching in his hair, "I'm-- can I--?" He doesn't know why he's _asking_ , but the heat coiling tighter and sharper in him is desperate, desperate, "-- can I--?"

Leo utters a broken noise against his throat, grip shifting to grab his ass, to haul him close and hard, thigh wedged hot and solid between his legs. "Takumi," he breathes, and Takumi's entire body jerks, " _Takumi._ " like a prayer, like Takumi's the only thing tethering him to earth. There's no armor between them. There are no weapons. There's the night, and the moon, and spring sparking a new light nesting in Takumi's heart. 

The heat peaks and Takumi comes with a cracked, airy cry, heat flooding through him as his hips jerk, erratic and sparking stars behind his eyes as he rides it out against Leo's thigh. Leo doesn't stop, still rocking up against him, faster and rubbing oversensitive lightning over Takumi's nerves but he grits his teeth, cum slick and hot against the inside of his pants. Takumi fists his hand tighter into his hair, cornsilk and starshine, and pulls him back up to kiss sloppy and wet.

Leo's breath hiccups as he moans breathless against his mouth, hips moving, desperate, again and again and when he comes he muffles _Takumi_  moaned against the corner of Takumi's mouth, shaking it out, warmth spurting damp and sticky enough for Takumi to feel it between them. 

Takumi's breath comes harsh, body still tense, still on edge of the afterglow, slowing as he listens to Leo pant quieter and quieter until his breath evens out. Leo's forehead drops against Takumi's shoulder, shoulders sagging, a silence falling over them both. It's uneasy at first, spring night breeze cooling sweat and leaving goosebumps in its wake, until Leo exhales a soft sigh and speaks.

"My path led me here," he says, almost too quiet for Takumi to hear, "and-- I would like to stay here." His hand fists into the fabric of Takumi's shirt, falling silent for a heartbeat. "If you would have me."

Takumi swallows hard, fingers loosening, palm opening flat and smoothing back down over his neck to rest at his chest. He can feel the same heartbeat as his own, there, pounding fast and exhilarated with what spring brought to life between them. 

"Okay," Takumi whispers, watching the silent starwashed world around them. _Leo,_ his heart says again, stripped of armor. "Yeah. You can stay."

Leo's mouth twitches into a smile against his skin, and the spring moon illuminates them both in the blanket of night.


	2. lunar eclipse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _There must be infinite ways to know him,_ Leo thinks, hands finding a home at Takumi’s hips, _each one a discovery the same as the first._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _it's just that your love_   
>  _shines like the moon_

Takumi wears dusk like an unfamiliar cloak. His shoulders are heavy with it, burdened purple with bruises and dark fabric, eyes flickering with an uncertainty Leo was sure they’d both forgotten. The mountains and trees around them rear up stark, all rocky crags and indigos, intimidating in their near-sunless presence.

Even so, Takumi doesn’t shrink from them. Leo sees the sunglow under his skin even now, entwined fully within every fiber of his being-- though the halls of his castle are dim, Takumi brings warmth of his own to light the way.

“At least there will be no sunburns here,” Takumi says absentmindedly, quilt pulled tight over his shoulders. He’s distinctly out of place here, surrounded by dark stone and silence where he’d been used to everything but. “But I suppose that was always your concern rather than mine.”

Leo sees the half-smile slanted his way, eyes a clever amber even in the dark corridor of the library. The rustle of fabric follows them both, Takumi’s hair swinging silent and pale where it catches the light of the lantern dangling elegant from Leo’s hand.

“You have concerns of your own, now.” Leo points out in response, eyes shifting back to the rows of dusty books. They’ve made their way into the furthest part of the library, thick with oppressive silence leftover from a monarch gone mad. In his last years, Garon hadn’t cared for literature -- or anything besides conquest, for that matter -- and with the servants disappearing rapid and silent under his reign, the library had fallen into disarray nigh immediately.

“Like what?” Takumi says, dubious, eyes following where Leo’s trace a somber trail along the faded spines of books lining the shelves. He grips the quilt tight with one hand, other falling quietly to his side to barely brush against Leo’s. It strikes warmth across his skin like a match.

“Getting lost in here.” Leo muses, pausing in front of a cobweb-draped torch hanging forlornly from the wall. With a whisper of magic, he sparks it alight with his fingertips, and it lights with a hiss. “Who knows where you could end up?” Slowly, the dark shelves around them glow with orange, illuminating forgotten books with yellow as the flame grows brighter. Takumi utters an incredulous noise, fingers curling gently against the edge of Leo’s palm.

“Very funny.” Takumi’s answer is sour, gaze turning to Leo with a half-question in his eyes. Leo holds it for a heartbeat before laughing, stomach twisting at the sardonic smile that slides over Takumi’s face in response. “You’d let me get lost, is that what you’re saying?”

“Perhaps.” Leo quells the amusement in his voice, teasing only partly evident in the word. “I know you’re not used to the dark.” He watches as Takumi sniffs, distasteful, expression scrunching with the tickle of the stirring dust against his skin.

“That’s very telling of your personality, Prince Leo.” Takumi says, dry and derisive, nudging an elbow against Leo’s side in lazy protest. “Is this how you treat guests in Nohr?”

Leo bites back a laugh once more, teeth digging into his lip-- Takumi’s words echo a jab of his own, and in lieu of a reply he moves to thread their fingers together in a feather-light hold. Takumi falls silent for a moment, eyes darting down to where their hands meet, before he’s lifting them again to meet Leo’s.

For a moment, the fear of Takumi pulling away is very real. No matter the days spent peaceful together in Hoshidan sunlight, no matter the stolen kisses behind sliding doors and flowering trees, it’s near-instinct to expect disgust in Takumi’s eyes. Another heartbeat passes before Takumi’s fingers squeeze gently, palm sliding to rest flat and smooth against Leo’s-- stars tingle along his skin where they touch, and he blinks, for once at a loss for words.

“I’m only returning your Hoshidan hospitality.” Leo finally finds his voice, core shimmering with warmth, entire being whispering intimate against the fingers laced with his own, frigid air warming in the scant space between them.

“I see.” Takumi answers, eyes lingering on him once more-- the torchlight catches them like tinder, and Leo is suddenly hesitant to meet his gaze. Somehow, it feels blinding, like he’s still in danger of the sun scalding a raw pink over his skin-- instinctively, he bites back a grimace at the memory. Dusk, at least, would never burn him. “I’ll remember that.”

Silence falls, easy and comfortable where it hangs in the dusty air all around them. Like this, it’s easy to imagine they’re in a pocket of time, distant and private with only old words and firelight to keep them company.

“It’s very possible that I could get lost here as well.” Leo says, almost thoughtful, free hand reaching for a leatherbound book coated with dust. He pulls it back, almost reverent, releasing Takumi’s hand with a measure of regret before gently blowing the dust off the cover of the book.

A moment passes. Takumi sneezes.

Leo snorts out a quiet laugh before he can help it, catching Takumi’s affronted look out of the corner of his eye. Even so, he moves to open the book, delicate-- his hands still tingle with the warmth of Takumi’s, radiating heat over his shoulder as he watches Leo carefully. The pages whisper, aged and yellowed, runes scrawled over them like spiders.

“Do you not know your way around your own home?” Takumi’s voice is incredulous, breath brushing close over Leo’s cheek. As if in response, without thinking, Leo holds his own breath-- the proximity is dizzying somehow, in the intimacy of their small circle of light. The dark wraps them in a world all to themselves.

“In case you couldn’t tell, the library is very large and very unused.” Leo retorts, no real fire in his voice, attention torn between the ancient text faded under his fingers and Takumi pressed up warm against his arm. “Even I couldn’t read the amount of books between here and the entrance.” Takumi nudges him once more, mumbling a noise of dissent, but he says nothing in response.

Leo can feel the book thrumming under his hands, a long-forgotten heartbeat, and he exhales out a surprised breath. There’s magic in it: it’s a tome, he realizes with some measure of shock, and he pauses in flipping its pages to consider the meaning of the runes smudged to near-illegibility on the crumbling parchment.

As if in response to the very thought, the book emits a quiet hum-- Leo feels Takumi start in surprise, still huddled close as if tethered by strings. The sound grows, air vibrating around them in rippling waves, and a fear of this unknown blooms panic in Leo’s chest.

It only lasts a moment-- the book sighs, pages rustling, before the runes spin and spin and speckle across the page to form glowing constellations. Slowly, the little stars light up, parchment beginning to gleam a soft white-- it grows and grows until it’s casting off the light of the moon, pale and bright and throwing the patterns of little galaxies over the shelves and walls around them.

“Oh.” Takumi says, nonplussed, and Leo half-turns to look at him. The book is warm and buzzing in his hands, and he blinks, dizzy with the pulse of the Universe, dizzy with the dusty air, dizzy with Takumi’s touch lingering over his skin. “Did you do that?”

Leo shakes his head, mouth suddenly dry, tongue cotton-- Takumi’s not looking at him, eyes following the crawling trail of a projected comet over the wall, cheekbones highlighted in the glow of the moon. They’re both starwashed, air falling into an unfamiliar hush, the world laid in soft white around them. As Leo watches, the stars cast on the shelves begin to move-- they fall, fall, trembling and tumbling to dust over Takumi’s skin.

Takumi’s eyes are brushed silver, expression flickering as the Universe makes its home on his skin, quilt falling from his hands to crumple silently on the stone floor. Leo swallows hard as the light from the book fades with a whisper, crumbling to dust under his fingers.

The stars remain where they are, however, illuminating Takumi and painting him moon-bright-- without thinking, Leo reaches for him, awestruck hand coming to brush flecked stardust from his cheek. It stays, stubborn cosmos swirling over Takumi like a sky, a faint dusting of silver smearing over Leo’s fingers where they touch.

When Takumi meets his eyes, throwing moonshine in ripples, Leo sees a new light shining clear and silver through him.

 

* * *

 

“You look like a nightlight.” Leo says, amused, and Takumi answers with a huff. He’s still glowing like a far-off star, little specks of light roving lazily over his skin. “Perhaps you should spend the night in Elise’s room instead of mine.”

The only response he gets is a derisive snort, and he watches as Takumi pulls his quilt tight around himself. The torches that hang from the walls dim in comparison to the moonlight pouring silent through the room. Leo shifts where he’s sitting on the edge of his bed, watching Takumi scowl at the book under his hands. There’s several of them on the bed beside them, quiet and unassuming with old runes carved into their spines.

“I hardly think that’s appropriate.” Takumi says stiffly, flipping a page with a curt motion. Leo resists the urge to laugh, his own book loose and forgotten in his own hands. There’s still a smear of stardust on the edge of his palm, pulsing in faint patterns.

“Perhaps not.” Leo watches the light on his own skin for a moment, pondering, before he looks back up at Takumi. “Ah-- come closer, would you?”

Takumi finally looks up at him, silver flickering fish-quick through his eyes, before he’s closing his own book without question. Still, there’s a hesitance in his expression, cautious as he moves to shift closer to Leo. The rustle of fabric is the only sound as he draws close, down mattress whispering as he settles down beside him instead.

“Have you figured out what this is?” Takumi asks, sounding almost weary. Leo shakes his head as he pushes the cluster of books to the side, skin prickling at their proximity. There’s a strange static in the air around Takumi, thick and tingling through Leo’s lungs whenever he takes a breath-- it’s like moving through molasses, almost, as he lifts a hesitant hand.

“Those are old runes.” Leo says thoughtfully, hand hovering unsure in the air as Takumi watches it warily. “We’d have to ask-- a scholar.” He pauses a moment before moving, leaning in close through the starry air to brush his palm over Takumi’s jaw.

It comes away with another smear of moonlight. Leo blinks at his hand before doing it again-- cups his hand to caress Takumi’s cheek, thumbing over his skin. Light flakes off where he touches, coming to dust his knuckles silver, flashing out brief patterns in the air between them. Like paint, it comes away and clings to his skin, leaving Takumi’s bare behind it. The imprint of a hand lies on his cheek in lieu of where there’d been silver before.

Takumi puffs out a laugh, eyes flicking to Leo’s hand where it hovers unsure in the air. “It’s on you, now.” Leo’s breath hitches as Takumi reaches up, fingers curling warm around his wrist, smudging stardust onto his previously unmarked skin.

Wordless, Leo reaches up to thread his fingers through Takumi’s hair. Starlight peels off of him in flakes, scattering into gleaming motes in the air between them, painting Leo’s bare skin with moondust. It smells like ozone, like something high-up, and dizziness curls through him where the silver nestles in his chest.

“It’s almost like snow.” Takumi says, wondering, free hand slowly lifting to Leo’s face. There’s a silence as he cups his cheek, fingers and palm warm, before he’s stroking glowing lines of stardust onto his skin. Leo watches as a slow smile curls over his mouth, breathless and distant. “You look ridiculous.” Takumi whispers, and the silver in his eyes lights up like the sky.

“Says the one who looks like they fell into a vat of paint.” Leo returns with a smile, soft and warm through with moonlight, and he tugs Takumi close to kiss him.

The stars sparkle against his lips, popping carbonated and sweet over his skin, and Takumi shudders out a little sigh. In the silence only punctuated by breaths, there’s a quiet hum, cosmos tumbling glitter in the air between them-- Leo’s hands shift to the ties in Takumi’s hair, tugging out meticulously tied ribbons, and it falls loose over his shoulders like water.

Leo can feel Takumi’s lips quirk into a smile against his own before he’s leaning back, pulling Leo closer, slotting their mouths together with a fizzle of heat. His chest feels tight, suddenly, and he fists his hand solidly into Takumi’s hair as they tumble gracelessly to the bedspread below.

Stardust sprinkles the fabric under them as Takumi’s mouth opens hot and slick against his, tasting of foreign sugar and dew, each inhale audible and rippling shivers down his spine-- the forgotten quilt catches around Takumi’s legs and he moves impatiently, limbs tangling with Leo’s in a nest of fabric and heat.

“Here--” Leo hears Takumi say against his mouth, breathy, hands moving from his face to his chest, suddenly impatient. He tugs at the material draped over Leo’s shoulders, a none-too-subtle gesture, silver smearing over Leo’s skin in his wake. “You-- take this off.” His words are fragmented, breathed into the kiss, unwilling to break away. Heat floods through Leo as he moves to obey, pulling back with some regret to tug the robe off and away.

“You too.” Leo hears himself say, numb, and Takumi immediately struggles to pull his own shirt off over his head. Even under his clothes, the moonlight paints his skin in rippling whites, smudging under Leo’s fingers as he reaches out to touch him. “--it really got all over you, didn’t it?” He murmurs as he slides his palms down Takumi’s sides, feeling him shudder.

The light is somehow both cool and warm at the same time, looking as if it could drip from Takumi’s skin at any moment. Leo expects it to be wet, but it’s smooth, almost chalky where it powders off between them. His fingers find the dips and ridges of Takumi’s chest, dragging down his ribs and stomach as he exhales an anticipatory breath.

“Obviously.” Takumi responds, sounding a little winded. Impatient with the pace, he reaches to curl his fingers under the hem of Leo’s undershirt, tugging it pointedly until Leo obediently withdraws his hands to pull it off. Flakes of moondust settle over his skin, marking irregular lines as Takumi pulls him down to kiss him once more. It’s more insistent this time, touch hot and greedy, a hand coming to fist into Leo’s hair as he licks into his mouth.

This is not new territory-- Leo knows Takumi’s body like a well-loved book, familiar and intimate under his palms. _There must be infinite ways to know him,_ Leo thinks, hands finding a home at Takumi’s hips, _each one a discovery the same as the first._

Takumi nudges a thigh between his, arching up against him with a muffled sigh-- and Leo rolls his hips slow against him, easy, instinctual and practiced. His skin prickles, hands moving to push restrictive fabric from Takumi’s hips and thighs as he heaves out a short breath, pulling Takumi up close, close to slot against him.

“It’s about to be all over you, too.” Takumi’s words catch in his throat, back arching slight as he presses up into Leo’s touch. “Hold on-- we’re gonna get tangled, idiot, let me take this off--” He struggles until Leo extricates himself once more, lips tingling as he watches Takumi shed the rest of his clothes.

“I thought we were past the name-calling.” Leo says, shifting to sit back on his heels against the bed. Takumi lofts a brow at him, hair and moonlight alike spilling over him in waves. He’s bare, now-- every inch of his skin is kissed with silver, mussed like sand in patterns Leo’s hands had left behind. Even as Leo watches, it shifts and ripples, tiny stars darting over his skin to form now-familiar constellations.

“I guess.” Takumi shifts uncomfortably under his gaze, legs drawing up as he sits back on his elbows. “Don’t stare at me.” His brows draw together, eyes holding a well-known dissent as Leo moves to lean forward over him. He sniffs as Leo boxes him in, kneeling between gently-parted legs, hands planting themselves in the bedspread on either side.

“It’s hard not to.” Leo says mildly, eyes dropping from his face to roam down his chest once more. Slowly, Takumi relaxes, defensiveness draining from his posture-- when Leo moves to push a kiss to his cheek, he allows it, offering only a murmur of dissent. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

His words are muffled as he presses another kiss to his cheek, lower, and then another to his chin. Takumi’s throat bobs as his head tips back, permissive, hand coming to curl into Leo’s hair as his lips skim down over his jaw, stirring up stardust in their wake. “I would imagine not.” Takumi manages, voice tinged sardonic even as Leo kisses down the moonswept column of his neck and to the dip of his throat.

“Ah, since you seem to be agreeable,” Leo says against his skin, amused, hovering over his chest, “I hope you won’t mind if I explore it more thoroughly.”

Takumi snorts, lifting up incrementally on his elbows to slant a look down at Leo. “Must you word it like that?” He says, fingers carding absently through his hair. “I don’t want to feel as if I’m in a trashy love novel.” His breath catches as Leo kisses further down, lips tingling over his chest in their wake, and his hand subconsciously clenches tighter in his hair.

Leo says nothing, eyes flickering up to meet Takumi’s briefly-- there are still constellations swirling there, flecked with a new heat, fingers threading through Leo’s hair like it’s his anchor to Earth. As if in response, he hums, kissing down Takumi’s chest-- down the ticklish dips of his ribs, the flat planes of his abdomen, feeling every time skin jumps under his mouth.

Takumi shifts with a miniscule sigh, leg coming to nudge against the outside of Leo’s thigh as he subconsciously pushes up against the brush of Leo’s mouth. Moondust swirls into motes of glitter with every movement, almost blinding where they fall to settle into Leo’s hair, dusting his cheeks and shoulders with silver-- the taste prickles over his tongue, and he exhales out a shuddering breath.

“Leo,” Takumi murmurs, and Leo’s ears burn when he hears the heat laced through the word. He pauses, pressing an almost-reverent kiss to the jut of Takumi’s hipbone, before looking up at his face once more. There’s pink dusting over his cheeks, visible in the swirling patterns of moonlight, lips parted and wet from kissing. Leo’s suddenly struck with the urge to lean back up and kiss him again, but he refrains, instead kissing slow and warm over the flat of his stomach.

“How do you feel?” Leo asks him, voice low against his skin, hands trailing to trace idle patterns against Takumi’s thighs. Takumi utters a laugh in response, strangled, knee knocking against his side.

“Fine. Good.” Takumi answers, a little breathy, watching him with anticipatory eyes. “I’ll be better if you keep going.” The words have Leo smiling against his skin, and a hand comes to find a firm grip at his thigh, pushing his legs open wider. Takumi’s breath hitches.

It’s still instinct -- would always be instinct -- to ask, to check and double-check on Takumi, on his emotions, on his desires. Too often, Leo finds himself lingering on the possibility of other paths he could’ve taken: paths that might’ve ruined their fragile alliance, paths that might’ve had them never meet, paths that might’ve led Leo away from kissing Takumi under a tree in moonlight. Subconsciously, his fingers grip tighter, and he kisses reverent down to the top of Takumi’s thigh.

“Don’t drag this out,” Takumi groans, fisting his hand tight into Leo’s hair. With a flicker of realization, Leo realizes Takumi’s half-hard next to his cheek-- his other hand trails up the inside of Takumi’s thigh, ghosting over his skin, stirring stardust as his fingertips brush teasing at the crease of his thigh and hip. “ _Leo._ ” Takumi utters another displeased noise, impatient, fingertips dragging over Leo’s scalp.

For a moment, Leo considers dragging it out-- considers going over every inch of him until he’s coming apart at the seams, shaking and gasping. The prospect of kissing the sky from Takumi’s skin is tempting. Still, after a moment of lingering, he decides to take pity-- goosebumps rise along his skin as he hums out a faint noise of assent, hand moving to wrap fingers around Takumi’s half-hard cock.

Immediately, Takumi’s head tips back with a groan, muscles tensing at the touch. Leo’s in no rush-- he strokes him slow, lazy, moonlight humming in the air between them. He can hear Takumi’s breath increase, catching in his throat, little desperate sounds hitching and held back even as he grows harder under his touch. He grips him firmly, palm warm around his length as he thumbs over the slit at the tip.

“Fuck.” Takumi says, wanting, eyes glued and wavering on Leo where he touches him. A shiver runs through him, stardust peeling off and into the air as a bead of precum leaks down the head of his dick, thick and clear and hot. Leo watches his expression for a moment, gut twisting into knots, before he’s moving to kiss the tip of his cock.

Another broken noise leaves Takumi’s throat, thighs attempting to draw close and tight around Leo’s head as he licks a flat stripe along the underside of him, hot and slow over aching skin. It’s salty on Leo’s lips, heat spreading over his skin and coursing through him, and after a moment of deliberation he moves to take Takumi’s cock into his mouth.

It’s something he’s only done once before-- Leo inhales a slow breath through his nose, tasting glitter and stars in the back of his throat still, before he’s swallowing him down centimeter by centimeter. Takumi’s cock is thick against his tongue, hot and rough and stretching his jaw wide, and Leo has to bite back a shiver as he feels another blurt of precum smear sticky towards the back of his throat. It’s minutely uncomfortable-- he exhales, steady, finally looking up at Takumi through his eyelashes.

“ _Gods._ ” Takumi’s looking right back down at him, mouth still half-open, eyes starting to glaze over-- his hand grips tight in Leo’s hair once more, throat bobbing as he swallows hard. His bangs are askew across his face, moonswept and dusting his cheeks with little stars, and Leo feels his heart skip in his chest. The awkwardness of his already-aching jaw is forgotten-- he swallows hard around Takumi’s cock, cheeks hollowing out with the force of it, and Takumi utters a broken noise.

Seeing him fall apart like this is a pleasure in and of itself-- with a thrill, Leo reminds himself that it’s _him_ reducing Takumi to this, that it’s _his_ hands unwinding Takumi to something loose and vulnerable before him. Slowly, he takes Takumi deeper, ignoring how his eyes water up briefly at the sensation of fullness, of unfamiliar heat on his tongue and throat. It’s difficult-- he can’t swallow him all the way down, so he moves to wrap his fingers around the length he can’t take in a slick grip.

“Leo--” Takumi’s voice trails off into a gasp, sounding winded when Leo begins to move-- hikes Takumi’s thigh over his shoulder as he bobs his head, swallowing him down into flexing heat again and again. “Leo, _fuck,_ ” Takumi says his name like a prayer, words almost shaking. It’s obscene, the sounds of it all-- Leo can feel his lips slick, spit-shiny and swollen around wet noises that echo every time he takes him down into his mouth.

His rhythm falters when Takumi’s hips buck up, gasps falling from his lips, flakes of silver dusting flurries over both of them every time he moves. It settles over Leo’s heated skin, ghosting into stormy patterns as a groan rolls from the back of his tongue, sending little shivers through both of them-- Takumi’s grip in his hair grows ever tighter, dizzying, making stars prickle over his scalp.

It’s almost intense enough to make him tear up again, heart racing wild as he huffs out little breaths through his nose-- he’s breathless with it suddenly, motions jerky under Takumi’s white-knuckled grip, jaw aching and limbs tense with heat of his own.

It’s a rhythm, he tells himself, lost in the flurries that whisk through the air between them, heartbeat thrumming through him every time Takumi’s cock pulses hot against his tongue, hard and leaking and thick. It feels like forever and then some before Takumi’s fingers grab almost desperate, hips rolling upwards in jerky half-aborted movements, mouth falling open even as his eyes fall closed.

“Gods,” Takumi pants, and heat thrills through Leo’s blood as he hears the hoarseness in his voice, “I’m-- oh, fuck, I’m-- _oh--_ ” His words fragment into pieces as he bucks up into Leo’s mouth with a loud gasp, air punched from his lungs as he comes sticky and hot down his throat.

It’s bitter-- Leo almost coughs, moving to pull back as Takumi whines out his orgasm, strings of saliva and cum dripping from Leo’s mouth before he wipes it with the back of his hand. There’s a moment where there’s only heavy breathing in the air, before Leo reaches for Takumi’s forgotten shirt and wipes his hands on it.

“That’s disgusting.” Takumi says immediately, managing to sound affronted even with his voice breathless. Leo quirks a brow at him, taking in his disheveled state, stardust freely swirling from his skin and in the air around him.

“You came in my mouth.” Leo answers, prim, and watches red spread over Takumi’s face as he struggles to find a response. There’s no fire behind it, however, and Leo exhales a tiny sigh before he’s moving to slowly lie down beside Takumi. Idly, he watches Takumi’s moonbeams ripple along the walls and ceiling, before his gaze shifts to Takumi himself as he moves to face Leo.

The silence that falls then is completely natural, and Leo follows the dimly twinkling stars floating in his irises still. The moon is smudged everywhere between them-- Leo can feel himself glowing with it too, now, smeared over his skin in errant, loving patterns. Takumi breathes out a quiet hum, idly reaching out for Leo once more, fingers curling into the hair falling flaxen against his cheek.

“I guess I don’t mind the dark as much, now.” Takumi muses after a moment, watching Leo through air still thick with starlight, with sex, with shared breath between them. A little smile quirks at Leo’s mouth before he can help it, and he reaches to pull Takumi closer, fingers stirring up silver dust from his skin.

“I’m glad to hear it.” Leo says, genuine. “It’d be difficult to visit here, otherwise.” Takumi makes a face at him in response, tugging at a lock of Leo’s hair. Still, there’s softness in and through him, glimmering against his and Leo’s skin both.

  
_The dark won’t matter_ , Leo thinks, _because the light is you._

**Author's Note:**

> many thanks to the following:
> 
> teresa for betaing and dealing with me in general  
> everyone on twitter who listens to me talk about these two All The Time  
> and everyone who did word sprints with me through this god bless your soul
> 
> i accidentally fell in love with these two and these kinds of fics are always fun to write. 
> 
> thanks for reading!
> 
> tumblr and twitter @ wetbreadstick


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